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Day: 8 December 2014

Preview: Transmission

Written by Patrick Hinton on . Posted in Music.

With The Warehouse Project set to end a phenomenal season at Store Street this month, any fears that their presence in the Manchester clubbing scene would die down in the spring months have been alleviated by the announcement of Transmission – Sounds From The Second City.

A union of promoters – WHP, Drop The Mustard, Chibuku, Circus, Metropolis, Now Wave, Kaluki, Sounds Of The Near Future and TROF – have teamed up to present a series of nights under the title of Transmission, taking place at the Grade II listed building of the Albert Hall in Deansgate from January to April of 2015.

The opening weekend kicks off with David Rodigan bringing his legendary Ram Jam party on Friday 23rd January, amongst those in tow is drum ‘n’ bass master Shy FX and garage don Wookie. Viva Warriors provide a house feast the following day with Steve Lawler, Âme, Derrick Carter and more.

Adam Beyer’s techno driven label Drumcode offer up another January highlight with Beyer bringing Hotflush label boss Scuba and signees Dense & Pika on the 30th. Moving into February, the month kicks off on the 6th with EDM superstar and skilled cake thrower Steve Aoki.

Hessle Audio take over on 20th February for The Mancunion’s highlight of the season. The line up features the exceptional Joy Orbison and Blawan and Pariah’s live techno project Karenn alongside the three Hessle Audio honchos; attendees at the Resident Advisor WHP this year will be well aware of the seamless brilliance of b2b2b sets from Ben UFO, Pearson Sound and Pangaea. The DJing prowess of Ricardo Villalobos is something these attendees perhaps won’t be aware of after his no-show. Luckily WHP & Zutekh are providing an opportunity to remedy that on 6th March with  the Chilean techno king topping the bill. Magda, Jackmaster, long-term Zutekh affiliate Midland and WHP resident Krysko also headline.

Heidi and her Jackathon arrive on March 28th with a stellar night featuring house mainstay Tiga, Hot Creations’s Richy Ahmed, the elusive Marquis Hawkes and Rush Hour’s Tom Trago.

The following weekend closes the series in style. On 3rd April Carl Cox and his friends Eats Everything and Jon Rundell will bring the Ibiza big room bangers; on 4th April the Defected night is headed by Masters Of Work and Oliver $; and finally, trance trio Above & Beyond headline on the 5th April.

Full details of every line up can be found here.

Tickets go on sale from 9am on Tuesday 9th December here.

Students petition for more police patrols in Fallowfield

Written by Aidan Gregory on . Posted in News.

A petition has been launched calling on Greater Manchester Police to step up their presence in Fallowfield, after three high profile sexual offenses on students since September.

The petition, launched by Laura Fitzpatrick, comes after a student was dragged down an alley and raped on Friday night, as she walked home alone along Landybarn Lane.

Last month, a student was raped in an alleyway off Whitby and Filey road.

Back in September another was sexually assaulted after she left Pangaea by a man posing as a taxi driver.

It also comes after it emerged that this semester alone, there have been over reported 30 sexual assaults on students in South Manchester.

In response to the latest incident, Jess Lishak, Womens’ Officer at the University of Manchester Students’ Union, said, “I’m now writing these statements once a month. That’s three of our students who have been raped on our streets since this term began.

“But that’s just the high profile cases that made it into the news, the horrific and violent rapes that happened in the back of a taxi and down dark alleyways in the same area.

“My thoughts are with the woman who was raped walking home from a friend’s house in Fallowfield this weekend and all of the other women who have been subjected to sexual violence on our campus and all over the world. These three incidents are horrendous and upsetting, but unfortunately, they are just the tip of a very large iceberg”.

She added further, “the number of women students who feel (understandably) unsafe on their own streets is absolutely terrifying. It’s terrifying because it’s a huge issue, almost too huge to comprehend, and it’s affecting so many women all over the country and the world, and it’s difficult to even know where to start”.

Students have expressed their disgust that locals, police and John Leech MP have been accusing students of “unacceptable behaviour” for throwing large house parties, at a time when female students do not feel safe walking home alone at night.

The petition itself states that it “is an appeal to the Greater Manchester Police force to step up their patrols after dark in Fallowfield and focus their efforts on keeping students safe, rather than meeting quotas to shut down parties and check bus tickets”.

One student said “I find it ridiculous that MPs will be debating ‘loud student parties’ in parliament this week, whilst next to nothing is being done to protect women that are being raped”.

Another said, “I am a girl and I deserve to be able to walk around at night without fear. [Also] I am a Fallowfield resident and am afraid to walk around after 9pm in my own neighbourhood. I want girls to be able to reclaim the night time”.

You can sign the petition at, https://www.change.org/p/greater-manchester-police-step-up-patrols-in-fallowfield?recruiter=51182082&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_term=des-lg-share_petition-no_msg

Anyone with information regarding the offenses is asked to call the police on 0161 856 1983, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Interview: The Amity Affliction

Written by Donald Spencer on . Posted in Music.

2014 has been a huge year for Australian metalcore pioneers The Amity Affliction, a number one album, a massive world tour and a nomination for Oz artist of the year. I had the opportunity to catch up with Ahren Stringer, founding member of the band and bassist/clean vocalist.

We began by discussing the recent line-up changes and how it has affected the band, Ahren commented on the departure of longtime guitarist Troy Brady ‘’Me and Dan get along really well writing wise, so it’s not going to affect any of the new stuff, Troy wanted to focus on recording other bands, and he couldn’t get a visa for our tour in the U.S. We came to a mutual understanding, but we remain friends.’’ Commenting on the replacement guitarist, Ahren said that he is ‘’doing great.’’

All the way back to Severed Ties, Amity have maintained an emotional and cathartic theme, utilising the analogy of the ocean as a medium for troubled frontman Joel Birch’s personal hardships. I asked Ahren what the ocean means to the band ‘’Joel writes the lyrics, he loves the ocean and it calms him and he lets out his problems through pen.’’ I went on to ask Ahren if there would be room to delve into other subject matter in future releases – ‘’More of a question for Joel, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’’

The Amity Affliction have been dominating the Australian metal scene for a while, but Ahren did have some reservations about the future of Amity in their formative years ‘’We did break up for sixth months but we thought that we shouldn’t give up if we’ve got something good going on. We’re getting to the point now that we always wished we would. Keep trying and you will succeed.’’

In September of 2013, I saw Amity play Manchester Academy 3 where they barely sold 100 tickets, this time around they sold out Gorilla, along with all their shows in Britain’s major cities. Granted, this is miniscule in comparison to their monstrous arena shows down under, but Ahren said that the same energy has been seen in the British shows. ‘’No matter how big the room is, it’s still great to come to the other side of the world, it’s a blessing really.’’

Let The Ocean Take Me only came out in the spring of this year, but when I grilled Ahren on the prospect of new music in the pipeline, his response was very promising indeed ‘’We’re always writing new music, but we’re gonna take three months off after a tour next year. We’re always thinking four steps ahead. Keep an eye out for new music in the future.”

We wrapped up the interview with a few less run of the mill questions, I told Ahren about the extensive metal scene present in the U.K. in recent years. I asked him if there were any British bands he is currently enjoying or would recommend to listeners of heavy music ‘’I was a fan of Heart in Hand before we brought them out on the tour with us, I really like their music. I’m also a fan of Landscapes, obviously Bring Me The Horizon, and While She Sleeps are great dudes as well. Architects are by far my favourite at the moment.’’

Last night, only a few hours after the interview, The Amity Affliction played an incredible live set at a sold out Gorilla Support from The Plot In You, Heart In Hand and Napoleon. Don’t underestimate these guys as they continue to garner a strong reputation outside of Australia through incredible records and even better live shows.

Live: Mastodon

Written by James Collins on . Posted in Music.

24th November

Manchester Academy 1

8/10

The monolithic Mastodon returns to Manchester in support of their sixth studio album, Once More ‘Round the Sun, demonstrating exactly why they deserve their legendary status in metal. The American four-piece, hailing from Atlanta, are renowned for their heavy and progressive style, expressed through intricately psychedelic leads, crunchy riffs and poetic lyricism. With album concepts ranging from Moby Dick (Leviathan) to the journey of the soul (Crack the Skye), Mastodon is a band that is clearly not afraid to experiment with unorthodoxy and have established a name for themselves with their artistic vision and technical ability.

While the newer material Mastodon has put out has been criticized by older fans for its more accessible sound, lighter tone, and (gasp) conventional song structures, it doesn’t seem to inhibit the craziness of Mastodon’s live show. Taking the stage of a packed out Academy 1 to a nightmarish backdrop created by Skinner, the man responsible for the cover art of Once More ‘Round the Sun, Mastodon opened with ‘Tread Lightly.’ The building intro of the track signalled the creation of a mosh pit that never seemed to close, the unending energy of the crowd maintaining the vortex of limbs and blood until the close of the gig. Mastodon’s penchant for big sing-along, borderline poppy, choruses in their recent albums ensures massive audience participation. This was especially apparent during ‘The Motherload’ and ‘Aunt Lisa,’ which had the crowd belting out the lyrics. But it was their older material that stood out that night. Brent Hinds’ labyrinthine solo on ‘Oblivion’ had the first few rows completely transfixed on his guitar, while the utter insanity of ‘Bladecatcher’ and ‘Aqua Dementia’ caused bodies to surf over head and an already violent pit to intensify. Mastodon ended the gig on fan-favourite ‘Blood and Thunder,’ a track heavier and more metal than a stampede of fucking trains.

I went into this show with high hopes and it was everything I expected it to be, from the raw energy of the band to the aroma of weed that descended when the lights dimmed. Unfortunately the second act, Big Business, introduced the show in a less-than-amazing fashion due to entirely unintelligible vocals, though the musicianship beyond that was pretty good. Mastodon put on one hell of a show and, whether you’re a fan of the band or just the genre in general, you would be doing yourself a disservice not to experience it for yourself. Just stay out of the pits if you would rather leave uninjured.